• Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Home
  • Daily Diary
  • Asset Class
    • U.S. Equity
    • Fixed Income
    • Global Equity
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
  • Sector
    • Basic Materials
    • Consumer Discretionary
    • Consumer Staples
    • Energy
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Industrials
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    • Telecom Services
    • Transportation
    • Utilities
  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Video
    • Columnist Conversations
    • Best Ideas
    • Stock of the Day
  • Street Notes
  • Authors
    • Bruce Kamich
    • Doug Kass
    • Jim "Rev Shark" DePorre
    • Helene Meisler
    • Jonathan Heller
    • - See All -
  • Options
  • RMPIA
  • Switch Product
    • Action Alerts PLUS
    • Quant Ratings
    • Real Money
    • Real Money Pro
    • Retirement
    • Stocks Under $10
    • TheStreet
    • Top Stocks
    • TheStreet Smarts
  1. Home
  2. / Jim Cramer

Jim Cramer: Stop Speculating About Coronavirus and Be Prepared for Anything

Every aspect of this illness is dynamic and even the Centers for Disease Control may not be updating correctly.
By JIM CRAMER Feb 06, 2020 | 07:18 AM EST
Stocks quotes in this article: YUMC, CLX

Can we stop speculating about what's really happening with the coronavirus in China? Can we please put an end to "this might work" and "that's going to solve it," kinds of research? Oh, and when it comes to numbers, I have an idea, trust no one.

Everything is in flux. Every aspect of this illness is dynamic and even the Centers for Disease Control may not be updating correctly. Am I seriously to believe that there are only 11 confirmed positive cases in this entire country as of yesterday when there are 20 on a Carnival Cruise ship off of Yokohama? If that's all there are -- and the CDC site itself seems to lack the most recent case, which makes it twelve -- then we are really wasting our time with this as the numbers from the real flu are far more devastating and the transmission far more lethal.

The latest published count of the seasonal flu numbers -- 15 million cases, 140,000 hospitalizations and 8200 deaths, which again, we know are too low as they are from the middle of last month -- makes us wonder why we are wasting our time with this illness at all? The lack of new corona cases here is certainly comforting, and gives you confidence that the quarantine is effective in the United States.

But I think that whatever the Chinese are doing does not give me any confidence at all for four different reasons.

One, I don't trust the Chinese updates as far as I can throw them, because the Chinese are not letting any U.S. entities near the numbers to verify them. Two, the companies that report are taking a very different, very negative, view. Three, the smuggled online videos from the front lines in Wuhan are devastating. Four, the endless stimulus coming from China in all sorts of ways -- including, I believe, out and out buying of stocks there and abroad -- are creating a very false sense of how good things may be.

Of these the most palpable measure of the decline comes from Yum China (YUMC) . I will have more to say about this later after I do my Action Alerts Plus club call, but the conference call last night told a story of tremendous strain on the entire system and of something much bigger and worse than just what's happening in Wuhan.

The one thing that seems, at all times, to be the wrong thing to do, though, is to try to call the top here.

Two days ago, Cowen, for example, flagged a dip in new, suspected and confirmed cases in China. I know I got my hopes up that we had a new, more comforting trend.

Then yesterday the numbers spiked right back up. If you based any of your investing on that one set of numbers, you got it wrong and have to unwind your position.

The only thing less reliable than daily numbers? The daily reports that someone has a vaccine or a cure for the illness. Many different drugs have been tried. I have to believe that if anything worked we would know about it pretty darned fast.

Here's the only certainty I can offer: Clorox (CLX) kills the virus. You use wipes, you can protect yourself from surface transmission.

Everything else? You take it not with a grain of salt but with a salt dome the size of the tomb of Lot's wife, a mythic mountain that's the perfect metaphor for the moment.

Get an email alert each time I write an article for Real Money. Click the "+Follow" next to my byline to this article.

At the time of publication, Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust, was long CLX.

TAGS: Investing | Markets | Politics | Trading | World | Jim Cramer | U.S. Equity | Global Equity |

More from Jim Cramer

Jim Cramer: I'll Put My Money With 'Boring but Lucrative' Any Day

Jim Cramer
Sep 29, 2021 1:28 PM EDT

Let's look at that recent downgrade of 'dull' Morgan Stanley and see why exciting is best left for the stadiums and amusement parks -- and not stocks.

Jim Cramer: America's Toughest Job? Finding Workers

Jim Cramer
Sep 28, 2021 12:17 PM EDT

It's the question of our time: Where are the people willing to take on these better paying gigs? Let's see what's going on and what we need to happen.

Jim Cramer: Here's How Analysts Can Be Off By a Wide Margin

Jim Cramer
Sep 24, 2021 12:02 PM EDT

Let's look at the reactions to Nike, Costco and Salesforce to see what happens when they're viewed from a real world perspective.

Jim Cramer: It's Pure Insanity That We Don't Make Chips Here in the U.S.

Jim Cramer
Sep 23, 2021 11:05 AM EDT

While the big guns meet at the White House about the global chip shortage, the president and these companies are approaching this all wrong.

Jim Cramer: Go Ahead, Have a Cow, but I Say Powell and Xi Are Bulls

Jim Cramer
Sep 22, 2021 3:51 PM EDT

We rallied, because China's President Xi and Fed Chair Powell made decisions that they knew would lead to rallies.

Real Money's message boards are strictly for the open exchange of investment ideas among registered users. Any discussions or subjects off that topic or that do not promote this goal will be removed at the discretion of the site's moderators. Abusive, insensitive or threatening comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have questions, please contact us here.

Email

CANCEL
SUBMIT

Email sent

Thank you, your email to has been sent successfully.

DONE

Oops!

We're sorry. There was a problem trying to send your email to .
Please contact customer support to let us know.

DONE

Please Join or Log In to Email Our Authors.

Email Real Money's Wall Street Pros for further analysis and insight

Already a Subscriber? Login

Columnist Conversation

  • 02:23 PM EDT STEPHEN GUILFOYLE

    We're Cleaning Out This Retailer From the Bullpen

    Check out the latest moves in TheStreet's Stocks U...
  • 10:24 AM EDT JAMES "REV SHARK" DEPORRE

    This Weekend on Real Money

    To Improve Your Trading and Investing, Spend More ...
  • 08:44 AM EDT PETER TCHIR

    CPI Beats Expectations, But Maybe Not the 'Whisper'?

    Slightly better-than-expected inflation across the...
  • See More

COLUMNIST TWEETS

  • A Twitter List by realmoney
About Privacy Terms of Use

© 1996-2022 TheStreet, Inc., 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10281

Need Help? Contact Customer Service

Except as otherwise indicated, quotes are delayed. Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes for all exchanges. Market Data & Company fundamental data provided by FactSet. Earnings and ratings provided by Zacks. Mutual fund data provided by Valueline. ETF data provided by Lipper. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions Group.

TheStreet Ratings updates stock ratings daily. However, if no rating change occurs, the data on this page does not update. The data does update after 90 days if no rating change occurs within that time period.

FactSet calculates the Market Cap for the basic symbol to include common shares only. Year-to-date mutual fund returns are calculated on a monthly basis by Value Line and posted mid-month.

Compare Brokers

Please Join or Log In to manage and receive alerts.

Follow Real Money's Wall Street Pros to receive real-time investing alerts

Already a Subscriber? Login